Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

enduring systemic changes vital to the success of
a peaceable school approach. 7 The CPS program
may be implemented within a school or school district.
IIDR helps schools and school districts develop
a comprehensive plan for program development based
on their identified needs and resources.
I have a habit of finishing sentences for my
older daughter. While she talks, I sit there
nodding impatiently and then I finish her
thought for her. After the workshop last
weekend, I decided to try to stop doing
that. It wasn’t long before she put me to the
test. But this time, I was patient. I gave her my
attention. I didn’t interrupt her. And when she
was done, I actually paraphrased what I heard
her saying. She was shocked. She just stood
there. I could see tears in her eyes. “Mommy,”
she said, “you really listened to me.”
Parent, New York City
Fundamental Skill Areas
Six skills are fundamental to the achievement of a
peaceable school: building a peaceable climate, understanding
conflict, understanding peace and peacemaking,
mediation, negotiation, and group problem
solving. The IIDR curriculum provides the educator
with a theoretical overview of the skill area and then
gives a number of activities and strategies to engage
students in developing a knowledge base and in acquiring
these skills. Each activity contains step-by-step
procedures to be followed with the students and can
be used in a class workshop, team project, learning
center, cooperative learning situation, or class meeting.
The skill areas are described below.
Building a Peaceable Climate. Responsibility and
cooperation are the foundation for all other skills in
the peaceable school. To manage student behavior
without coercion, adults must take the perspective
that effective behavior is the responsibility of the
student and strive to develop a sense of responsibility
in each. Students then begin to make responsible
choices guided by their rights and corresponding
responsibilities.
44
Understanding Conflict. For students to engage
in successful conflict resolution, they must have a
shared understanding of the nature of conflict. The
program provides information and activities that
instill a shared understanding of the nature and
causes of conflict, the possible responses to conflict,
and its potential benefits. The idea that psychological
needs are the underlying cause of conflict is
useful to students as they seek to resolve disputes
through common interests.
Understanding Peace and Peacemaking. Students
are taught to observe peacemaking and peacebreaking
behaviors within the school and classroom. Peacemaking
activities help students understand and practice
the concept of peace. Students learn that specific
behaviors are associated with peacemaking, namely,
appreciating diversity, understanding perceptions,
empathizing, dealing with emotions, managing anger,
countering bias, and communicating. The principles
of conflict resolution are also taught as peacemaking
behaviors.
Mediation. Mediation is defined as assisted conflict
resolution between disputants for use within the
classroom and as a schoolwide vehicle for resolving
conflicts. Training activities cover a mediation process
that allows students to gain the skills to act
as neutral third parties when facilitating conflict
resolution between disputants.
When you talk it out, like when you can sit
down and talk about it, you’re not as mad.
That’s the way I see it. When you start talkin’
about it, the anger just dies down. You just
become more civilized; you go back into
your regular state of mind.
Student, Alternative High School,
Baltimore, Maryland
Negotiation. Disputants learn to resolve their
conflicts unassisted by stating their individual
needs, focusing on their interests rather than their
positions, and generating options for mutual gain.